http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/RSS.ashxVestas Win[d] PagesTue, 05 May 2009 08:42:22 +0200http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=1http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=1Wind W i n d , o i l a n d g a s No. 16 Ye a r 0 6 28 April 2009 Will credit crunch wind power? inside: Storing electricity | Recession triggers wind merge Stage ready for the electric car | Polemic carbon trade Sea level rise: any reason for alarm? | New green collar generation2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=2http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=2There is light ahead of us – though some places look much brighter than others Vestas is a global company. Everyone following us knows that. That our strategy rests on three legs – North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe – well, that isn’t news either. And of course we organise and run our company in accordance with local developments in each market. Quite new, however, is the development that is currently taking place in each of the three legs. Our growth scenario is intact, although not with the same strength in all markets. Such a situation can of course not be disregarded in the way we run the company. A number of people have said that we should have adjusted and trimmed the company already in the fall of 2008 when we published our expectations for the year to come. I disagree to that. In no way did we conceal that 2009 was going to be a challenging year for Vestas. At the same time we pointed out that for us, layoffs are the absolutely last way out. This is still how it is. However, as we now realise that there is not an adequate convergence between the countries in which we have plants and the markets that are expected to purchase our products – well, that leaves us with no other choice than to adjust the company to match the conditions that are actually being offered us by these markets. The demand in Northern Europe is not big enough for us to maintain our current capacity in these markets. The lack of demand is caused both by the credit crunch and also a problematic exchange rate development for the British Pound, the Swedish Kroner and the Polish Zloty. To this comes also lack of will and desire to put up wind turbines in some of the North European markets. All in all elements that have hit the demand in the North European countries harder than expected – leading to an unavoidable negative impact on our production business units especially in Denmark, just as the blades plant on Isle of Wight, UK is affected in high scale. This means that we now start consultations and negotiations with labour unions representing the affected employees in Denmark and UK. The aim is to reduce the number of employees in Denmark and the UK by approximately 1,900. No one should doubt that I am really sorry that we have to take such drastic steps as to negotiations with the aim of laying off colleagues – and in such big numbers. I know that everyone really have worked very hard and made great efforts. A fact that naturally makes layoffs seem unbearable and incomprehensible. I am the first one to acknowledge this. It hurts, but we must always do what is best for Vestas and no matter where we are in Vestas, we always need to relate to this in an objective way. Fortunately, there is light ahead of us. Less than one week ago the British government stated, with the Minister for Energy and Environment Ed Miliband in front, that the environment challenges now will be given greater priority to a level never seen before and I have to my great satisfaction noted that especially the modern energy is placed very first on the list of the Brits. I find every reason to value this fact. The initiative promises well and thereThanks. Best regards Ditlev Engel President and CEO fore I sincerely hope that the Brits’ budget leads to specific orders in the months to come. As we in the past have played most matches on foreign soil – ‘away games’, if you will (whereas virtually all competitors have been blessed with the advantage of playing home games only), the challenge we are facing is to convert as many away games as we possibly can into future home games for Vestas. Because we ARE present in full scale as far as sales, production, service and so on is concerned on the principal markets which we therefore to a larger extent may regard as our home turf – the world’s as well as our largest markets, the US and China, are showing strong growth prospects which is why our huge investments in these countries continue steadily. Vestas have previously been under press2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=3http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=3Content 32 4 Wind-friendly bankers ride out global credit crisis Global bankers’ spirits are flying a bit higher these days with a U.S. economic stimulus bill that includes provisions to get commercial lending back on track for wind ventures. Meanwhile, European and Asian officials maintain regulatory and legislative tools to keep projects economically viable and their bankers content. Bounty crop of green policy changes Both the E.U. and the U.S. have taken major steps toward revamping the renewables environment. In Europe, it was the 20-20-20 Plan. In America, it was a new President pushing for clean energy. Major players in these markets give their assessments of the policy shifts. 36 Teaching renewables Colleges and universities around the globe are ramping up programs to train the people who will propel the future green energy economy. 8 Hoarding energy Electricity storage is a hot topic at the moment – and perhaps surprisingly, it can benefit wind power over a wide range of timescales. We look at the technology and the opportunities. 40 44 Win-win collaborations R&D partnerships prove that two heads are better than one. Innovation in Vestas Latest technological advances in Vestas: find out how we increase turbine availability with a mobile crane, how we save costs by minimizing the number of gearboxes and how we decrease cost of energy with the design of a new turbine. 14 Crisis fires up under consolidation The strong grip of the global economic recession has accelerated the trend towards consolidation in the wind industry. Particularly large utility companies are coming to the fore, where they, today, place ever firmer demands on wind turbine suppliers. 18 Revving up the electric car Wind power will play a key role in the world’s future electric car infrastructure, charging the cars at night with clean, green energy. 48 Wind will never stop In 2008, wind power experienced a record year in installed MW and the industry expects a 15.7 per cent p.a. growth for the following four years. 22 Paying for pollution The threat of global warming has triggered trading of emission rights. Carbon markets are large, growing at times controversial, and they will influence future investments in wind power. Note from the editor Dear reader, With the desire of providing you the most up to date information while reducing the environmental impact of the magazine, Wind will only be published in an online format starting with the next issue. Please visit the media section at our corporate web site (www.vestas.com/media) to read the exciting digital version of the magazine – live on the 18th of August. Peter Wenzel Kruse, Senior Vice President of Communications 28 Don’t build an ark, yet New research findings reinforced that sea level rise from three separate sources is another unfortunate and potentially disastrous consequence of the burning of fossil fuels. 32009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=4http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=442009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=5http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=5Turbulence in the credit market group at HSBC Bank in London. She adds that advancements in technology will curb the overall costs of renewable energy production and boost its efficiency. U.S. credits green energy The wind energy sector in the United States has suffered double blows over the past year as commercial bankers cut back on lending and shrinking corporate profits limited the use of tax benefits that the wind developers had depended on. Analysts say it was the virtual demise of this tax equity market for the production tax credits that has most severely hurt the financing of wind farm ventures in the United States. Provided through federal legislation since 1992, the production tax credit helped make a wind farm economically viable by sup- The global credit crunch has reined in growth in regions around the world and sharply curtailed lending to industries. Yet renewable energies like wind haven’t totally left the radar screen of investors. By Palagna Solano With the financial crisis at the background, wind-friendly bankers are hopeful that the new financing options enveloped in the U.S. administration’s economic stimulus bill will help boost the world’s largest market for wind energy, as continued regulatory and pricing regimes across the Atlantic keep nurturing the European appetite for wind. At the same time, industry observers are optimistic that the Asian wind sector will maintain its upward swing this year as the region’s two largest markets – China and India – keep using legislative and policy mechanisms to sustain their rapid growth. “Whilst the global environment continues to work through its present challenges, we expect the renewable energy sector to continue to grow and evolve, ” says Siobhan Smyth, a managing director and head of the renewable energy resources and energy plementing the revenue gained from electricity sales. But because wind developers don’t usually generate the profits that make tax subsidies viable for their own balance sheets, the rights to these tax subsidies are bartered off to tax equity partners, usually institutional investors, in return for capital. These financial institutions can then use the tax benefits to offset their once sizeable profits while the wind developer gains the capital infusion needed to build the project. But the financial difficulties of most players that provided tax equity funding meant they could no longer use the tax credits. Some tax equity partners, such as Lehman Brothers, are simply out of business. Others, including American International Group, Wachovia, Morgan Stanley, GE Finance and New York Life, are no longer in the market or pulled back their participation. 52009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=6http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=6To counter this loss, the $787 billion economic stimulus bill approved by the U.S. Congress on 17 February included specific provisions meant to revive a wind sector battered by the global financial crisis. These provisions included more flexible and longterm incentives to help wind developers make their projects economically viable and get commercial lending back on track. The use of the production tax credit, for example, was extended until 2012, three years beyond its current expiration date of Dec. 31, 2009. This lets a wind farm developer tap into a tax credit of 2.1 cents for each kW of electricity output during the first ten years of operations. The wind farm project must be placed into service, or generating kWs, to qualify for the tax credit. in the Washington D.C. office of global law firm Chadbourne & Parke. Instead, as a way to encourage development, the legislation allows developers whom forego the production tax credits to be eligible for a 30 per cent investment tax credit or to skip tax credits altogether and receive a check from the U.S. Department of Treasury for 30 per cent of the project cost. The option to receive 30 per cent of the project cost in cash is only available for projects put into service in 2009 and 2010, or wind projects for which construction starts in 2009 or 2010 and reach completion by 2012. And in another attempt to make the wind projects more economically viable, the stimulus bill authorized the U.S. Department of Energy to provide up to $80 to $110 billion in loan guarantees for the developers of renewable energy projects, certain categories of U.S. manufacturers that make some components used in these projects; and the construction of transmission lines. These transmission lines are sometimes needed to transport the electricity from rural areas to urban areas where the electrical grids are located. Martin says it is too early to tell exactly how the new legislative provisions will impact financing and construction in the United States. “Everyone is figuring out how to put together the pieces of the puzzle that have been handed to them by the U.S. Congress. It’s not clear yet how to fit the pieces together. People are just coming out of their holes and finding out where they are, ” says Martin. Adds William Young, a wind energy analyst at London-based New Energy Finance, “Tax credits will help substantially, as will the flexibility and increasing number of financing options and sources of capital now available to developers. “The key question is how fast the system can be mobilized to disburse capital… this is primarily a government and human resources question. ” Europe confidence in renewables The Old Continent harbors the world’s second and third-largest wind energy markets, Germany and Spain respectively, and the credit crunch has wielded less impact as the wind sector benefits economically from a variety of government incentive mechanisms. With feed-in or green tariffs government insures a utility will pay a wind farm operator a set price for their electricity, which can be more expensive than electricity generated by other sources. “Although the credit crunch has impacted the financing of all projects and capital investments, with lenders exercising increased selectivity in the transactions they support, the renewable energy sector in Europe has been less impacted, ” said David Cole, head of project finance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at BNP Paribas in Paris. “There are a number of reasons for this, first is the high level of confidence that lenders and investors have in the respective regulatory and pricing regimes, secondly, the suppliers have a proven construction and operational track record and lastly, there is a comparatively modest investment required as opposed to the fossil fuel generation. ” Adds Adam Umanoff, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Chadbourne & Parke: “These tariffs have been very successful in driving the market. ” Besides an already robust 2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=7http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=7tinent urge governments to include green investments in their stimulus packages. Lord Nicolas Stern, Former Chief Economist of the World Bank & Economics Expert of Climate Change, remarks in a recent released study*: “A green fiscal stimulus can provide an effective boost to the economy, increasing labour demand in a timely fashion, while at the same time building the foundations for sound, sustainable and strong growth in the future. ” Asian appetite for energy Asia is the home of two of the world’s fastest growing markets: China and India. Wind projects throughout the region have typically benefited from supportive regulatory frameworks that require utilities to use some renewable power for their energy needs as well as some use of feed-in tariffs. Renewable energy projects attracted financing even as liquidity tightened. “Financing remains accessible to those wind projects where experienced sponsors are developing the projects with sound contractual structures, ” Symth of HSBC adds. China’s huge appetite for energy, along with government financial backing and power price subsidies, helped turn the giant Asian nation into the world’s fastest-growing wind market last year. “There’s no capital constraints, ” says Umanoff, adding that there is very little private financing in China. Last year, China doubled its installed capacity over 2007 and expects to double capacity again this year. It holds the world’s fourth slot in wind generation. India is the world’s fifth-largest producer of wind energy and another growth market in Asia. While the country has no national feed- Energy bargain prices Predicting future energy prices is a science in itself, full of unstable variables which change by the minute. In November 2008, The International Energy Agency forecast $100 per barrel over the period 20082015 and $120 by 2030. Right after their prediction, the financial crisis forced its way into the equation and energy prices went into freefall. Oil price volatility made wind very competitive during 2008 but oil prices as low as $48 per barrel are now bringing wind to its knees. However, limited resources mean that oil prices will eventually rise as the financial crisis resolves. “Certainly the present level is not believed to last according to the mainstream view and thus wind power will again be increasingly competitive compared to other fossil fuel power generation technologies. In fact a very good way of hedging the energy price is possible with wind power because the consumers and investors will know the future electricity price throughout the wind turbines lifetime - i.e. the next 20 years. More and more institutional investors and national energy policy agencies recognize this clear benefit of wind power, “ comments Peter C. Brun, Senior Vice President of Vestas’ Governmental Relations. Lord Nicolas Stern, Former Chief Economist of the World Bank & Economics Expert of Climate Change in tariff, regional feed-in tariffs in several states, including the southern state of Tamil Nadu, has helped keep lenders comfortable. “And there are many small developers of less than 50 megawatts. These smaller projects are easier to finance, “ says Umanoff. Another factor benefiting the viability of wind ventures is their comparatively modest size, compared with a fossil fuel-fired plant. “These are not elephant projects that require vast amounts of capital, ” says a banker. “Renewable financing was a bit insulated from the credit crisis. Banks had become increasingly selective and that benefited small-scale projects. ” * An outline of the case for ‘green’ stimulus, February 2009. 72009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=8http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=8Hoarding energy 82009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=9http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=9Large-scale use of renewable energy may depend on the ability to store electricity By Charles Butcher Electricity is slippery stuff: invisible, and almost impossible to store in quantity except by converting it to some other form of energy. Yet many experts believe that the widespread takeup of wind and other renewables will depend on our being able to store electricity effectively. The business opportunities here, and in better batteries for power-hungry electronic devices, are powering a boom in energy storage R&D. Wind power shows random variations over timescales that range from seconds to days, points out Claus Nygaard Rasmussen, who researches energy storage at the Institute of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark. This means that for power companies, the ability to smooth out power dips lasting just a few seconds or minutes can be just as useful as for variations spanning hours or days. The one-hour horizon is important, Claus Nygaard Rasmussen says, because it is the shortest timescale over which electricity is traded, and because it is practical with existing battery technology. “Our research shows that a storage capacity of 30 per cent has a big effect, ” he says. “For instance, a 2,0 MW wind turbine might produce an average power of 800 kW. Adding a battery with a capacity of 240 kWh and a power rating of 800–1,200 kW gives a very high probability that you will be able to supply 800 kW for the next hour. ” Such guarantees are worth a lot to the power companies, he says, because they make it possible to shut down fossil-fuel generating units that would otherwise be needed for backup power. Over shorter timescales, storage allows wind power plants to increase their output briefly to cover ‘spikes’ in power demand. “Conventional power plants have a reserve that allows this ‘up-regulation’, whereas 92009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=10http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=10standard wind and solar plants don’t, ” says Henrik Vikelgaard, an energy storage expert at Vestas. “Using storage to help maintain frequency stability on the grid will make wind power more acceptable to the generating companies. ” Even for short-term storage, cost is an obstacle. According to Claus Nygaard Rasmussen, a 240 kWh lithium ion battery for a 2,0 MW wind turbine would weigh about 1.5 tonnes and would cost around the same as the turbine itself. “Either the cost of batteries will have to fall to half or one-third of its present level, or the value of reliable wind power will have to double, ” he says. The next step up in storage, with capacity for six or eight hours to cover demand variations between day and night, would cost significantly more. As Claus Nygaard Rasmussen points out, however, longer timescales also increase the value of storage because they bring greater flexibility to power companies and grid operators. For grid operators, storage is already economic as a way to increase network reMaximum Discharge Time Figure 1 shows how the various energy storage technologies fit together in terms of the power they can deliver (measured in MW) and their capacity (measured in MWh, or simply as the time for which they can sustain a given power output). Some of these technologies, especially for short-term regulation, are likely to enter commercial use in the next five years, the experts say. Large-scale storage from the Earth At the moment, the intermittent nature of wind power is often covered by starting up spare fossil-fuel power stations, or by importing power that is later ‘paid back’ when the wind starts to blow. Another option is to convert surplus wind power into hydrogen, which can fuel vehicles and power stations. Hydrogen is tricky to store, however, and demands a strong political vision that makes it unattract ive to power companies today. For more immediate electricity storage, the answer lies in geology. Above ground, mountainous areas can use pumped hydro storage, which relies on off-peak or surplus electricity to move water up to a high reservoir. Pumped hydro can achieve a ‘round-trip’ efficiency of 70–85 per cent, and hydro’s ability to start generating within a few seconds makes it a good fit with other renewables. The U.S. has around 20 GW of pumped storage, and the E.U. around 32 GW. Below ground, surplus electricity can be used to pump air into caverns or rock fissures like those in which natural gas is stored (see Hours Metal-air batteries Compressed Air Flow Batteries Pumped Storage liability or delay investment in new capacity, points out Brad Roberts, chairman of the U.S. Electricity Storage Association and an adviser to the U.S. Department of Energy. His firm, S&C Electric Company, is involved with a one-year trial being run by Xcel Energy in Minnesota, U.S. In Xcel’s Wind-to-Battery Project, a 1 MW sodium-sulfur battery with a capacity of 7 MWh is providing storage for a 12 MW wind power plant. Sodium-sulfur batteries Advanced batteries Lead-acid batteries Supercapacitors Minutes High-energy flywheels Modular compressed air Spinning reserve & grid stability Energy management Seconds Low-energy flywheels SMES Figure 1: Energy storage technologies span a wide range of capacities, power outputs, and degrees of technological maturity (image: Electricity Storage Association). 0 kW 10kW 100kW Power Rating 1MW 10MW 100MW 102009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=11http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=11Figure 2). To reclaim the energy, the compressed air drives turbines attached to generators. Because compression creates heat that must be removed and then replaced during the expansion phase, compressed air energy storage (CAES) typically has an efficiency below 50 per cent, but the technology is proven. There are two commercial CAES plants, in Germany (Huntorf) and McIntosh (Alabama, U.S.). Companies such as Energy Storage and Power in the U.S. plan to build new, more-efficient CAES plants. R&D ideas in large-scale storage include underground pumped storage hydro based on mines and aquifers, huge plastic bags of compressed air tethered to the seabed, and heat storage to make compressed-air systems more efficient. U.S. companies General Compression and Mechanology are working on compressors that fit directly into wind turbine nacelles. Batteries find the right chemistry For shorter run times, batteries provide flexible electricity storage that does not rely on geology. Starting from the traditional leadacid rechargeable battery, this fast-moving research area now includes a dozen or more battery types, including lithium ion, zinc-air, and sodium-sulfur. Lead-acid batteries are competitive with fancier types for now, but feature poor power density and short working lives. Lithium ion batteries offer a larger number of chargedischarge cycles and the highest energy density of any commercially-available battery type, according to Lars Barkler of Danish company Lithium Balance, which develops electronic management systems designed to maximize battery performance. Not all lithium ion batteries are the same. The commonest chemistry, as found in laptops and mobile phones, is lithium cobalt oxide. A different type known as lithium iron magnesium phosphate (LiFeMgPO4) has a lower energy density but much longer life, especially in stationary applications, and is intrinsically safer, according to Colin Spence, who is responsible for stationary applications at U.S. company Valence Technology. Valence has shipped more than 70 MWh of lithium ion battery capacity in commercial applications, mainly for electric vehicles. For stationary applications Valence can supply a range of modules housed in standard shipping containers. A 40-foot container could provide a capacity of around 2 MWh, Spence says, and a maximum power output of 4 MW. The target cost is $1.0–1.2 million per MW, of which two-thirds is for the batteries and one-third for the associated electronics. James McDougall, CEO of rival battery company ReVolt, says that compared to lithium ion, his firm’s zinc-air technology has much higher capacity, and is safer and cheaper. ReVolt, which has attracted investment from German renewable power company RWE Innogy, says it has solved the problems that have previously afflicted rechargeable versions of ordinary zinc-air batteries, which are widely used for hearing aids. “In large-format systems, we expect to have pilot units running within three to five years, ” McDougall says. Sodium-sulfur (NaS) batteries operating at around 300°C have three times the energy density of lead-acid batteries and a predicted lifetime of 2,500 cycles, says developer NGK Insulators of Japan. The company recently supplied a 1 MW NaS system to a bus depot in New York, and has a 34 Figure 2: Compressed air is a proven, if currently some-what inefficient, way to store energy on timescales of hours or days (image: Ridge Energy Storage & Grid Services LP) 112009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=12http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=12Figure 3: 34 MW NAS battery system for 51 MW Wind Farm in Rokkasho, Japan. Photo courtesy of NGK INSULATORS, LTD. MW demonstration plant running alongside a wind farm in Japan (see Figure 2). A 1 MW NaS unit with a capacity of 7 MWh is as large as three 20-ft shipping containers, says Vestas’ Henrik Vikelgaard. Expanding the battery vision Conventional batteries, whatever their chemistry, are self-contained units in which power is quite closely linked to capacity. Flow batteries, also known as redox batteries or reversible fuel cells, decouple power from capacity, potentially making very high capacities more affordable. They do this by storing charge in a liquid electrolyte that can be stored in large tanks and pumped through the battery as needed. Flow battery manufacturers include ZBB Energy Corporation in the U.S., VRB Power Systems in Canada, Plurion in the UK, and Cellstrom in Austria. VRB and Cellstrom use chemistry based on vanadium, ZBB uses zinc-bromide, while Plurion relies on an organic acid known as MSA in conjunction with metals such as cerium, zinc, and titanium. “At the moment, flow batteries are comparatively low-powered and expensive, ” says Claus Nygaard Rasmussen. The case of VRB, a pioneer in flow batteries, shows how challenging the new energy storage market can be. Despite its strong position in Japan, where several demonstration-scale flow batteries have been installed, the company laid off most of its staff last year and was recently acquired by Prudent Energy of Beijing. Other storage devices that look a little 122009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=13http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=13like batteries, though they are actually very different, include ultracapacitors and superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) devices. Ultracapacitors use electrodes made from nanoscale carbon to store electricity directly, rather than converting it to chemical energy, as batteries do. They are ideal for delivering large currents over short timescales, and, unlike batteries, they can operate for millions of cycles. Companies like Honda already use ultracapacitors in electric vehicles, to recover energy during braking. SMES devices store energy in the form of magnetic fields. They are robust, and can deliver large amounts of power for short periods. Companies such as ACCEL in Germany and American Superconductor in the U.S. supply MW-scale SMES devices for power conditioning in sensitive industries such as semiconductor manufacturing, and to allow smooth starting of large electric motors. Flywheels store kinetic energy Spinning flywheels that store kinetic energy offer robustness, high efficiency and an operating life measured in millions of cycles, says Damien Scott of UK company Williams Hybrid Power (WHP). Made from carbon fiber composite loaded with magnetic particles, WHP’s flywheels spin in a vacuum at up to 40,000 rpm. A version of the technology will appear in parent company Williams F1’s Formula One cars this season. Coils inside the flywheel create a combined motor and generator: power can be fed in to increase the flywheel speed, or harvested as the speed is allowed to fall. ‘Roundtrip’ electrical efficiency, allowing for losses in the power electronics, is better than 90 per cent, Scott says. WHP has tested a flywheel that can deliver 250 kW, and designed a 500 kW version. Higher outputs and longer run times are System housing Vacuum pump Cooling fan possible by using several flywheels in parallel. U.S. company Beacon Power, for instance, plans a ‘farm’ of 200 flywheels providing a total of 20 MW for 15 minutes. The company has demonstrated container-sized multiflywheel units in California and New York. Stockpilling wind Power electronics “We have been looking into all these storage technologies, though we have not seen any Stator breakthroughs yet, ” says Henrik Vikelgaard. “We are working with energy storage researchers at Aalborg University and other institutions, including in the U.S. ” “Vestas believes that energy storage Rotor Hybrid ceramic bearings MLC Fibre glass Stator can Flywheel container Carbon fibre End cap  will be important in improving the performance of wind power plants and making them behave more like traditional power stations, ” he continues. “It is also useful for postponing costly investments in grid capacity. Without storage, I think the world will have difficulty reaching its goals for renewable energy. ” Figure 4: Williams Hybrid Power’s electromechanical system stores electrical energy by converting it into the kinetic energy of a high-speed carbon fibre rotor spinning in a vacuum. 132009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=14http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=14“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. ” - Charles Darwin 142009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=15http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=15Crisis fires up under consolidation Financially stable utility companies place firm demands on wind turbine suppliers as they take a leading role in the consolidation of the wind industry By Cath Mersh It’s happened before. In every booming industry where the growth possibilities are apparently endless and the players numerous, there comes a point where the competition for market dominance begins, and consolidation is inevitable. That is where the wind energy generation industry is right now. Over the past two years, mergers and acquisitions have steadily increased. Now, in the face of the global financial crisis, they are speeding up. Particularly European utility companies have been making an impact, with a series of buy-ups of smaller utilities and independent power producers on the international wind energy scene. In January this year, German energy company RWE announced the latest in a series of acquisitions – an agreement to acquire the shares in Dutch Essent, the largest producer of renewable energy from wind and biomass in the Benelux countries. Essent, which has retained its independent identity, gains access to improved financing conditions through the deal. Sweden’s stateowned utility Vattenfall followed in February with a bid for another Dutch utility company, Big investor interest The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) hails the growing investor interest in the wind energy sector. “A growing number of power companies with strong balance sheets are investing in wind energy and there is increasing interest Nuon – a transaction that brings a no. 1 position in Europe for off-shore wind energy production. Portuguese power provider EDP is another example. The 2007 purchase of U.S. wind farm company Horizon Energy was an important strategic move that will enable EDP to generate more than half of its electricity from renewable energy by 2010. Jonathan Barringer, Vestas Business Consultant, who has been closely involved in a project to map the wind market and redefine customer needs, has observed many similar transactions. “There is a clear trend towards bigger, more sophisticated players who are present on more than one market, and signs of utility companies going into wind production, ” he says. Stable financial chioice While many small players on the wind market now struggle to meet tougher bank requirements, utility companies are more likely to have access to capital. Their responsibility to supply power to the people is typically backed by a government mandate – making utilities a safer, more stable choice of creditor. Christian Kjaer, EWEA Chief Executive, comments that big utilities with large cash reserves could emerge from the crisis with more projects. “We may see some of the smaller from institutional investors, despite the financial crisis, ” declares the EWEA in a recent press release. Since the crisis began, the credit freeze by international banks and the falling price of fossil fuels have become key factors in the accelerating consolidation trend. “Governments and the European Investment Bank must urgently establish loan guarantees to ease the banking liquidity squeeze and accelerate economic recovery, ” the EWEA adds. 152009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=16http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=16projects, which have turbine delivery contracts but are struck by the banking liquidity freeze, being taken over by the larger power companies, ” he says.* “Three years ago a lot of small developers were very active. But now size is important because the banks look at that. That’s a major shift, ” adds Vestas’ Jonathan Barringer. Weeding out While consolidation of the wind industry is generally seen as a favourable development, Francesco Starace, Chief Executive Officer at Enel Green Power, is among those who welcome the financial crisis as a further opportunity to weed out the weaker players and make way for stronger companies with longer-term objectives and a strong emphasis on efficiency. He also hopes it will promote the move away from the renewable industry’s dependence on government incentives and legislation towards self-supporting viability on the energy market. “For the past ten years, all over the world, we have seen this industry develop largely thanks to incentive packages and preferential tariffs, ” he states. “Now it’s time to let the industry face its major challenge – creating an efficient cost structure. This industry has to become cost-competitive vis-à-vis fossil fuels regardless of incentive packages. ” Bigger customer demands For wind turbine suppliers like Vestas, the current si- tuation has accentuated customer demands. Today Vestas is making efforts to work more closely with banks to ensure customers get the financing they need. At the same time, Vestas is increasing its focus on project optimisation to improve the economic viability. As Chief Operating Officer for Europe at EDP Renováveis, the world’s fourth largest wind energy company and an active player in the consolidation movement, João Costeira sums up the demands from his company’s perspective. “Clearly competitive pricing – I’m talking of all-in prices - is paramount because otherwise, no project gets built. “But, for a company such as EDP R, operating in three continents and eight countries, flexibility is also fundamental to allow us to make the most of our portfolio and adapt to the inevitable changes in the more than 50 projects we currently have at an advanced phase. This flexibility should range from geography of delivery to scope of “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. ” - Leo Tolstoy 162009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=17http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=17supply, and from yearly quantities to spare part availability. “A company such as Vestas, with its worldwide footprint and manufacturing and logistics capabilities should be, and already is, rising to the challenge. ” Italy’s largest utility, Enel , listed second biggest by installed capacity in Europe, has recently gathered its international renewable energy activities in a new company, Enel Green Power - from day one Europe’s biggest generator of renewable energy. When asked what his company requires of wind system suppliers in order to meet strategic goals, Francesco Starace, expresses two clear demands – more focus on raising efficiency, making the supply chain less complex, and more technological development. “In this term one of the interesting development that needs to be deeply analysed could be the option to get rid of the gears and go to direct-drive technology, which could be more efficient, less complicated and less costly on the operations and maintenance side, ” he says. Recovery plan Until the time comes when the wind industry is self-supporting, the political goodwill that has seen wind energy become a key part of the energy mix in countries round the globe is still an undeniable driving force that is helping utilities position themselves on the renewable market. It is also helping to resist the impact of cheaper fossil fuels on the wind industry. Indeed, within the E.U., the European Commission’s proposal to invest in offshore wind energy is part of the economic recovery plan designed to stimulate the economies of member countries. Across the Atlantic, President Obama’s economic stimulus package includes several provisions to speed up the development of wind and other renewable energy industries. What it all means is that the consolidation of the wind industry and the financial crisis clearly have mutual benefits. At the end of the day, the remaining players will emerge fortified. Right now it is down to suppliers like Vestas to push ahead and help equip larger sustainable energy providers with the efficiency and competitiveness to hold their own. * International Herald Tribune, 4 February “To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often. ” - Winston Churchill 172009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=18http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=18Revving up the electric car 18 182009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=19http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=19Wind will fuel your future wheels. Around the world, regions and countries are laying the groundwork to support electric cars, and wind turbines will play a key role - particularly at night, when they’ll charge your car with clean and competitively priced energy. By Jack Jackson In three years, people all over Denmark will be driving electric cars charged in part by wind energy. At home or work, they’ll plug their cars in to smart recharging points that will switch on when the country’s wind generation is high but power demand is low – say, at night – keeping a better overall balance on the grid. When driving longer distances, Danes will be able to pull in to battery exchange stations on all major Danish highways, where a mechanical device will swap the spent batteries with fresh ones. It will not take any longer than the time needed to pump a full tank of petrol fuel. These Danes will likely also be happy, knowing they are some of the first in the world to test a new concept for sustainable transportation – saving the environment and money. This is not just an idealistic plan. It is happening – and not just in Denmark but around the world – with hundreds of millions of euro in private investment money behind it. This is not just an idealistic plan. The leader is a global company called Better Place, run by former software executive Shai Agassi. His unique business plan and idea of building networks of service stations to recharge electric cars is suddenly getting lots of attention from media, politicians and industry around the world. Battery power Although the electric vehicle (EV) has been around for a century, expensive batteries, long charge-up times and short driving ges have made it impractical. Recent technology breakthroughs are making EVs practical and affordable, however. Improvements in lithium ion batteries have increased their range while dropping ranAccording to Agassi’s plan, “We’re engineering transportation as a sustainable service. We solve for range and cost by implementing a swappable battery, and we create a zero emission solution by matching the supply of renewable energy with the demand created by electric vehicles. ” Better Place teamed up with Israel in 2008 to test the idea of a countrywide network of car charging stations. As soon as that project got underway, more countries and regions have signed on – Denmark, Australia, Ontario, Hawaii and a nine-city alliance of communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. “The world is facing two big challenges: our dependence on oil and CO2 emissions, ” says Jens Moberg, Chief Executive Officer of Better Place Denmark and Head of Better Place Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We believe the time has come for the electrical car. ” Like a cell phone company Better Place does not make cars. Instead, it is building and operating the country – or region-wide systems that EV owners need to keep their vehicles running. “We’re enabling car manufacturers to produce electric vehicles without needing to put up charge points or battery exchange stations, ” Moberg says. “That’s been one of the limitations – an access to power in a convenient way. ” dramatically in price, according to a report in AutoSpeed (issue 522, 17 March 2009), an industry magazine of automotive technology and performance. Nearly every major automotive manufacturer is now working on getting fleets of EVs to market by 2011. Several other companies and start-ups specialize only in EVs, from Tesla Motors in the U.S. to Venturi in France or Think Global in Norway. The automotive industry is driven by increasingly stringent government regulations on fossil fuel-powered vehicles, energy security concerns and high oil prices, as well as public approval of their brands, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, (The Comeback of the Electric Car – How Real, How Soon and What Must Happen Next, January 2009) , global management consulting firm. 192009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=20http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=20Better Place approaches the business with a model untraditional for transportation, but one that is now familiar in the communication sector. “The beauty is that we’ll operate like a cell phone company, ” Moberg explains. To understand the business model, think of how you use your cell phone. You pay your mobile phone provider for minute-by-minute access to the provider’s cell towers and network. You probably paid very little for the phone itself, since the cellular access provider offered it cheaply as part of its access plan. Now, replace the phone with an electric car and then replace the cellular network with an electric recharging grid. “You’ll buy a subscription with Better Place, ” says Moberg. “We’ll provide the battery and the electricity and service. You just pay a monthly fee, depending on your needs or the miles you drive. ” Drivers will be able to plug in to charge points anywhere, anytime as part of their plan. And if they are on the go and don’t have time to charge, they change their battery at an exchange station. No extra charge. “We will start putting up charge points at office locations and at private homes this year in Denmark, ” Moberg says. “This will accelerate over the next two years, along with building battery exchange stations. Our commitment is that in 2011, we will ensure that people can drive from anywhere to anywhere within Danish borders. They will have com-plete mobility. ” Utility finds match for wind In Denmark a consortium of investors has made a crucial €103 million investment to help build the EV charging network. In a country known for its progressive innovation with green technologies, the timing could not have been better. “With the U.N. Summit on Climate Change around the corner, Denmark has the opportunity to demonstrate to the world what the future of transportation will look “Instead of exporting surplus wind power to neighbouring countries – often at very low prices – we could instead collect it and store it in people’s car batteries. That would be a The charging spots of the Better Place mobile operator network will be the regular point of interface between a driver’s car and the electric power grid. like, ” says Agassi, referring to the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen this December. Danish utility DONG Energy will match every kilowatt-hour of power Better Place’s network uses with a kWh of clean, renewable energy generation. “In Denmark we have more wind than we have sunshine, ” says Moberg. “It’s the best possible source of power for electric cars here. Part of our mission is to buy only green energy for our subscribers. ” Wind turbines already generate nearly 20 per cent of the power on DONG’s network – the largest share on any system in the world. Matching that up with a fleet of electric cars seems a perfect idea. “It’s a technical challenge to control the balance in our system, ” says DONG’s Torben V. Holm, who adds that the relative contribution of wind power to the system is typically highest during off-peak hours at night. better use of a valuable commodity. ” Better Place’s charging units will use a smart grid technology to charge vehicles when overall grid loads fall – a way to help keep balance on the system at all times. The quiet cars Better Place has also found a partner with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which plans to have its first model of electric car ready for global consumers by 2011, the Renault Kangoo Z.E. Two more models will follow in 2012. “We expect to sell 20,000 to 50,000 cars globally the first year, ” says Søren Hyltoft of Renault Denmark. All models will have the same specifications as normal cars, meaning they can drive 140 kmh or faster, he says. Their distance range on a single battery charge goes up to 180 km. Jens Moberg says, “I think people in Denmark – like those in many other countries 202009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=21http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=21– are concerned about the environment. But I expect that what will really fascinate them with these electric vehicles is the driving experience. “Before I first drove an electric car, I thought, ‘Alright, this is not going to be as good as driving a gasoline or diesel car, but good enough,’, ” Moberg explains. “But then I drove one and found out it was better. ” EVs have two big differences from regular cars. One difference is the noise. “These cars are just quiet – there’s hardly any engine noise. ” The other is that a driver needs to use only one pedal most of the time. “You only need an accelerator. As soon as you ease the pressure, the motor starts to brake. In normal traffic in the city you don’t need the brake at all. ” Need economies of scale Better Place faces a challenge in communicating to people that today’s electric cars are not the small, limiting vehicles of the past. “We need to get people to see that these offer more than the diesel or gas car – that people are not giving up safety and comfort, ” Moberg says. Several countries and cities offer EV incentives, which will help get the switch to electric cars moving. Israelis and Danes avoid paying registration tax on new EVs – in Denmark that means a savings of 180 per cent. Other countries like France offer a cash bonus. Some cities like London allow EV drivers to avoid paying road taxes and parking fees, Moberg says. EVs will be more expensive to produce initially, but in the long term, they will be cheaper to own. “Ten years from now it will be cheaper to drive an electric car, even if there are the same taxes as those on other vehicles, ” Moberg says. “An EV is just a simpler device to manufacture. There are less moving parts in the engine. Right now they are more expensive to make because they’re new. Car manufacturers have been producing gas and diesel vehicles for years. Their production lines are optimized for that kind of vehicle. As electric vehicles take over into mass production, they’ll be less costly to produce. When the demand is there, the supply will come. “ “This is changing people’s behaviour. It’s a new way to look at transportation – it’s a cultural change. ” Components of the Renault Kangoo Z.E. Electric Vehicle: Characteristic Components 6 5 3 2 1 4 1 2 Lithium-ion Battery Power Inverter and Transformer 3 4 Junction Box and Battery Charger Electric Engine and Reducer 5 6 Slow/Quick Battery Charge Socket Dashboard Display 212009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=22http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=22pollution Paying for 22 222009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=23http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=23Carbon markets are big and booming. Depending on system rules, they can either grow or slow investments in wind power. By Eric Johnson In the nearly 13 years since the Kyoto Protocol was signed, cutting carbon emissions to combat climate change has called for one obvious and one not-so-obvious policy. The obvious choice of many governments has been to impose ‘carbon taxes’ on conventional fuels. This was relatively straightforward, because most fuels are heavily taxed already. At the same time, several governments made a not-so-obvious choice to set up carbon markets – trading in permits to emit greenhouse gases. Until recently this was a relatively obscure method for sinking emissions, and it continues to create political controversy. Nonetheless, it has become a massive, growing business. Carbon permits valued at around €100 billion were issued in 2008, according to two of the leading market analysts, Point Carbon and New Carbon Finance. Although a contraction is expected in 2009 thanks to the world economic crisis, both analysts reckon the market’s size has tripled in three years, quadrupled in four, and that expansion will continue in the medium term. For wind power, this is mission critical. Already, sales of carbon permits have sparked financing of nearly 600 wind projects in the developing world (see Table 1). They could also help to fund significant new wind capacity in developed countries, yet this will depend on how carbon markets’ rules are written. “Regulators can cut carbon by promoting investment in wind, ” says Rémi Gruet, Regulatory Affairs Advisor of the European Wind Energy Association, “But they need to pay close attention to the incentives they are setting. ” Pass the gas The idea of emissions trading was initially tabled by the U.S. in the global negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol, following the successful model applied in the U.S. to control emissions of SO2 (acid rain). Admittedly, they are setting up something that was hardly known or practised until the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) launched in 2005. There are few precedents for carbon markets, which allow participants to create and to exchange the rights hts to release greenhouse gases (commonly known as ‘carbon’, after the primary greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide). ETS, which accounts for two-thirds of the global carbon market, works on the same principle as European food rationing in the wake of World War II, except instead of food, it applies to emissions of carbon. Regulators set a cap on total carbon emissions, and then that total is rationed among emitters in the form of permits (ration cards, also known as allowances, credits and offsets). Those with surplus permits can sell them to those who are short: carbon trading is born. Under ETS, E.U. member states issue permits for some 3 billion tonnes of carbon emissions annually to some 12,000 ‘energy intensive’ factories. Allocations are based on past performance, and they are steadily ratcheted down over successive budgeting cycles. For a plant that historically emitted, say, 50,000 tonnes per year, the government might give permits for 45,000 tonnes. That plant’s operators then have three basic choices. They can: · discharge 5,000 tonnes less than last year · buy 5,000 tonnes of excess permits from someone else, or · cut emissions below 45,000 tonnes, and sell their excess permits to someone else. Whichever, at the end of the year they must match up permits and emissions, or face 232009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=24http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=24ETS (2/3 of carbon markets) CDM (1/3 of carbon markets) CO2 emissions (tonnes) Previous years emission Companies exceeding their permits of CO2 might construct lower-carbon generating power in developing countries to offset their pollution. This year's allowance Buy the excess permits from another factory Pay 100$/ tonne emmited at the end of the year Hit the current year’s allowance Cut emissions below the current year’s allowances and sell the excess to another factory Figure 1: CDM and ETS. a €100 penalty per tonne of unpermitted emissions. The principle behind the programme that dominates the remaining third of the global carbon market is different to that of ETS. Instead of rationing a fixed amount of emission permits, the Kyoto Protocol -created Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) creates permits in the developing world that can be bought in the developed world, by governments, companies and even individual people. CDM permits (usually called offsets or credits) are created by avoiding future carbon emissions. Instead of building, say, a carbon-intensive coal-fired power plant, operators might choose to construct lowercarbon capacity (such as wind power, see sidebar Fanning off excess carbon). Rather than spewing waste fluorocarbons into the atmosphere, owners of a new refrigerant factory might install equipment to capture and incinerate these climate killers (which have a global warming effect 100s and 1000s times greater than carbon dioxide). Either way, the carbon emission thus avoided becomes a permit for its buyer either to emit or to ‘bank’ (that is, to reduce emissions). As the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Ashok Gupta puts it: “Increasing use of wind power (and other renewables) is crucial to fighting global warming emissions. ” Blowing (less) smoke Both approaches – ETS’s rationing and CDM’s offsetting – have their critics. Up through the mid-1990s, many European governments insisted that carbon permits should not be tradable, that transferring emission rights allowed heavy polluters to ‘get off the hook’ of their reduction obligations. Since then, however, E.U. Member States have become true believers, realising that trading allows reductions to happen at the lowest net cost. Indeed, numerous studies have shown that many 242009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=25http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=25Fanning off excess carbon Clean Development Mechanisms create permits in the developing world that can be bought in the developed world, by governments, companies and even individual people. CDM credits have greatly boosted wind power in the developing world. Nearly 22,000 MW of electric capacity has been funded by sales of around 220 thousand tonnes/year of offsets (see Table 1). This amounts to of 14 per cent of all CDM offsets, just behind biomass’s 15 per cent and hydro’s 27 per cent of the total. Vestas has been in the thick of it. Our CDM Desk in Chennai is in the process of gaining credits for 115 MW of wind capacity in India that is spread over six individual generators commissioned from 2003-05. Validation of the carbon savings is a lengthy process, and CDM authorities are very picky, says Vestas Senior CDM Engineer Rampradap Balasubramanian. Nonetheless, Vestas hopes to be awarded credits for the six projects sometime in mid 2009. Table 1: Wind-power capacity being financed by CDM credits Source: UNEP-RISOE Database Country China India Mexico Brazil South Korea Domican Republic Cyprus Egypt Morocco Philippines Nicaragua Costa Rica Others Total Projects 271 240 11 11 10 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 9 568 MW 13,784 4,474 1,222 687 314 173 188 200 70 73 60 69 244 21,558 Total 2012 CER's 144,924 48,406 10,439 2,833 2,681 1,706 1,058 2,106 1,144 829 727 490 2,956 220,299 252009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=26http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=26carbon reductions (such as investments in energy efficiency) actually save money, even before permit sales are counted. Offsetting continues to be controversial. Opponents charge that offsets are a shell game, a fraud, where sellers claim reductions that at worst are bogus or at best would have happened anyway. “Offsets aren’t helping the environment, “ argues environmental pundit Keith Johnson, “If they’re merely providing extra profit for cleanups already made. ” Moreover, they contend that offsetting creates an ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ mentality in the developed world, with buyers complacently acquiring credits just to find an easy way out of avoiding their own emission reductions. Both charges have been taken seriously. Proponents point out that CDM projects are not only vetted rigorously, but also obliged to prove their so-called ‘additionality’ (a technical word meaning that they would not have happened but for CDM credits). In Europe, CDM offsets may constitute only up to 50 per cent of a company’s or country’s annual carbon reduction – the rest must come from at-home improvements. After Kyoto By contrast, up to 100 per cent of reductions could be ‘outsourced’ via CDM credits in the budding carbon market proposed for the United States. This stirs mixed feelings among renewable energy supporters. On one hand, after eight years of a Bush boycott, they welcome the entrance of the earth’s largest per-capita polluter to the world of Kyoto commitments. On the other, they hope for more rigour: less CDM outsourcing and stiffer reduction targets. While the E.U. is contemplating a 20-30 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2020 from the 1990 baseline, America is toying with a pledge of only 0 per cent. Renewables backers and environmentalists are calling for other changes in carbon markets. One aim is a fairer shake from ETS. Rather than the current ‘grandfathering’ – i.e. granting free-of-charge permits to existing polluters – ETS’s permits should be auctioned to the highest bidders. “This creates a level playing field for competing power technologies, ” says EWEA’s Gruet, “Because it forces them all to internalise their costs of generating CO2. ” While the proposed American system will auction all permits, Europe is more cautious. The E.U. says it will auction all permits by 2020, but only 5-10 per cent are now put on the block, and some of the more vulnerable industries – such as power and chemicals – are lobbying hard to halt the planned expansion. Renewables supporters are also urging the E.U. to get serious about carbon caps. ETS’s carbon prices suffered an embarrassing collapse in 2006 when governments issued far more permits than were needed. “It destroys the purpose if a carbon market is not kept tight,’ notes an analyst at SRI Consulting. “Without that, there is no real incentive for emission reductions. ” Tighter markets, auctioning and stiffer targets – these will prod wind investment and emissions reductions, so wind proponents are pushing them with high hopes. Their argument is simple: these policy choices should be obvious. 262009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=27http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=27Are fixed prices the answer? As carbon prices have swung from highs of around €40 per tonne to lows of under €1 per tonne, developers and financiers of carbon-saving projects have thrown up their hands in despair. They complain that project planning becomes extremely difficult when future prices and revenues are near impossible to predict. Rather than risk their capital on potential losers (which many projects are, if carbon costs less than €30 per tonne), their safer bet is to abandon them. Some proponents of carbon savings are calling for less volatile prices. Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel explains that “current variations in carbon prices create much uncertainty for the carbon-saving projects. What is needed is long-term predictability for everyone. ” An unlikely ally, the world’s largest fossil-fuel producer, has shown support for Engel’s position. ExxonMobil’s CEO Rex Tillerson has in several public statements called for fixed prices rather than variable ones. Speaking at Stanford University in February, Tillerson said that pricing carbon directly and transparently “could incentivise the search for lower-emissions energy solutions while also providing the stability and predictability industrial companies need to make long-term, capital-intensive investments in equipment and research.” ECX CFI Futures Contracts: Price and Volume 40 €35 Dec 2009 Sett 35 Total volume €30 30 Volume (million tonnes CO2) 25 20 €20 15 €15 10 €10 5 0 06.02.2006 04.04.2006 05.06.2006 01.08.2006 27.09.2006 23.11.2006 23.01.2007 21.03.2007 18.05.2007 16.07.2007 11.09.2007 07.11.2007 08.01.2008 05.03.2008 06.05.2008 02.07.2008 28.08.2008 24.10.2008 22.12.2008 20.02.2009 €0 Graph 1. Volatility of carbon prices and correlation between the volume of contracts issued and trade prices. The graph shows carbon futures traded on the ECX exchange. · Settlement Prices (‘Sett’) reflect the weighted average of trades during the daily settlement period (16:00- 16:15 hours UK local time). · Volume and Open Interest reflect all contracts traded. Open Interest figures are published at 11:00 hours UK local time for the previous business day. 27 Price per tonnes (EUR) €252009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=28http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=28282009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=29http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=29don’t Build an ark, Yet By Glen Blouin Scientists have traced the history of sea level rise back to the start of the Industrial Revolution. With the buildup of greenhouse gases primarily from the burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas – the average ocean level has climbed twenty centimetre, or eight inches, in the last 120 years. As we continue to spew out carbon dioxide and other gases by the millions of tonnes, the prognosis is not promising. No, Noah, it is not time to run out to the back yard and build an ark, yet. But it is time to radically reduce the sources of these gases by continuing to pursue sustainable sources of energy. According to oceanologists, the sea is not only acidifying, but it is warming. There are three causes for the rise, all related to warming. As water warms even slightly, it expands. Thermal expansion, estimates Physicist Stefan Rahmstorf of Germany’s Potsdam Instuitute for Climate Impact Research , now represents 20 per cent of that rise, down from 40 per cent in the last half of the previous century. The second is the gradual, and A catastrophe in slow motion According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), our oceans are rising 3.3 millimetres per year – slightly more than one tenth of an inch. Not cause for great alarm. But occasionally dramatic, melting of the glaciers. Ice caps and glaciers exist on every continent except mainland Australia, on higher elevations as widespread as the Himalayas, the Alps, Kilimanjaro, the Andes, and the Rocky Mountains. Generally, but with occasional weather blips from year to year, they are all retreating, contributing currently 40 per cent to sea rise. Combined, these glaciers represent less than one percent of the total year-round ice on the planet and do not pose a major threat of sea level rise in the long term future. The third is the mother of all glaciers: the ice sheets of Greenland and Western Antarctica, which account for the remaining 40 per cent to sea rise. Glaciologists are closely monitoring the dynamics of melting ice sheets in both regions. The sheer mass of this ice source is worrisome for the future. as the burning of fossil fuels continues to accelerate, most climate specialists predict the release of CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere will have a catastrophic impact on ocean levels. For example, since 1990, the year the Kyoto Protocol adopted as its benchmark, CO2 emissions in the United Sates alone have risen by over 20 per cent. So what will be the effect on sea level if all this ice melts – as it is doing in the Arctic Ocean and on inland mountains – or begin to slip into the sea – as is occurring in Greenland and Western Antarctica? What will be the effect on sea level? Climatologists can’t agree on the numbers or the timeframes – but they all agree it will mean a significant rise in sea level. The implications of such a scenario would be disastrous for islands and atolls that may submerge, most coastal areas of the planet where beaches may disappear, freshwater wetlands destroyed by salt water, and low-lying cities inundated. The impact on both developed and developing countries would be devastating. One tenth of the 292009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=30http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=30global population live at or near sea level. They also concur that the risk of storm surges poses perhaps the most serious problem. Stefan Rahmstorf states that a 1-metre rise in sea level will intensify this risk from one-in-a-hundred years to one-in-three years. John Church, of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research warns, “Unless we undertake urgent and significant mitigation actions, the climate could cross a threshold during the 21st century committing the world to a sea level rise of metres. ” Scientists predict darker future At the recent International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen, 2,000 scientists gathered to share their research findings. The session was a lead-up to a worldwide conference next December, also in Copenhagen, which will lay the groundwork for Kyoto II in 2012. The consensus among those climatologists, particularly those studying sea levels, was that previous forecasts by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 were too conservative. The IPCC, based on data dating back to as early as 2002, estimated that sea levels will rise between 18 and 59 centimeters, or 7 to 23 inches, by the end of the century. Their predictions however did not factor in the potential of the melting ice sheets in Greenland or the western Antarctic, two of the three major masses of ice on the planet. Some activists, such as Manfred Treber of Germanwatch feel the IPCC used ‘the lowest common denominator’ in arriving at their conclusions. He attributes this to political negotiations among the scientists in order to achieve the necessary consensus. Treber states, “This is one of IPCC’s weakest points. ” On the other hand, Bill Hare, also from the Potsdam Institute and an author of the IPCC report, states categorically, “IPCC was not at all influenced by governments. ” He does however concur that the absence of western Antarctica data at the time the IPCC report was compiled overlooks the potential of sea level rise from accelerating ice streams caused by ocean warming. Rahmstorf, who says sea levels have risen 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) since 1880 calls the IPCC report “sober and conservative. ” Like many others, however, he stresses the ‘uncertainty’ of further projections. “The numbers from the last IPCC are a lower bound because it was recognized at the time that there was a lot of uncertainty about ice sheets, ” explains Eric Rignot of the University of California (Irvine) and Senior Research Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “The results gathered in the last 2-3 years show that these are fundamental aspects that cannot be overlooked. ” Virtually all climatology experts predict the effect on sea level will be felt predominantly in the Arctic and North Atlantic, with little or no rise in most of the far southern hemisphere below Australia and the tips of Africa and South America, where few people live. ‘Risingseafighters’ Substitution of renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, wave and tidal, hydroelectric, and geothermic would help alleviate some of these effects, but scientists stress that much more needs to be done immediately. Some, like NASA’s Jim Hansen say we are approaching the tipping point where it may be too late. Others are slightly more optimistic. The science is complex, but the principle is simple: heat melts ice. And the near-consensus of scientists worldwide is that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet. One modern 3,0 MW wind turbine, over its 20-year life cycle, can displace the equivalent of 220,000 tonnes of CO2 produced by a coal-fired generating station, Western Antarctic In the Western Antartic there are already signs of ice sheet erosion. Floating ice shelves that shelter the massive ice sheet are dissipating, allowing the mass of ice to contact the warming ocean and melt. Fortunately, the Western Antarctic represents only about 15 per cent of the continent. According to 2006 NASA satellite data, the majority of 2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=31http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=31as well as eliminate other toxic byproducts such as sulphur, arsenic, lead, mercury, and nitrous oxides that enter our air, soil, and water. The World Wind Energy Association’s 2008 Annual Report shows that 1.5 per cent of electricity generated in 76 countries now comes from wind, an increase of 29 per cent over the previous year. WWEA estimates that by 2020, only 11 years from now, 12 per cent of global electricity consumption will be wind-driven. Relatively speaking, commercial production of energy from solar, wave and tidal power, as well as geothermal sources has tremendous potential, but is still in its infancy. Wind power is not the sole renewable energy source, but it represents a major part of the solution to greenhouse gas emissions. Greenland In Greenland, where the ice reaches over 3,000 metres, or two miles thick, they are discovering that the ice sheet is gradually speeding up its snail-like journey to the sea. On the planet’s largest island and home to 10 per cent its ice, the shifting of the ice sheet is a natural phenomenon. As gravity draws the mountains of ice towards the north Atlantic, snowfalls normally replenish what has been released, especially at higher elevations in the interior. But the warming ocean, glaciologists theorize, is accelerating the flow. Konrad Steffen, Director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado, says, “we know that the speed has doubled in the last eight years. ” His and other studies have found that the ice sheet is now sliding into the Atlantic at a rate of 100 metres a year, roughly the length of a football field. Another factor contributing to the acceleration may be the formation of lakes atop the ice during summer, which suddenly disappear Figure 1: Sea level rise, from Stefan Rahmstof’s Sea rising level presentation for the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen 2009. overnight, funneling down vertical and horizontal tunnels called ‘moulins’ to the bottom, where the ice meets bedrock. There the water may act as a lubricant and reduce friction between the two. The overall cause of these phenomena is warming - both of the air and the ocean. And the primary culprit is the myriad greenhouse gases, in particular carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. According to the USGS the melting of the entire Greenland ice sheet, which covers 82 per cent of the island, would result in a sea level rise of 6.55 metres, or about 21 feet. Satellite data, updated to the end of 2008, from Anny Cazenave Global tide gauge data of Church and White until 2006 31 312009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=32http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=32Bounty Crop of green Policy Changes Call it “Continental Alignment.” Europe and the US have moved much closer together recently in terms of renewable energy, thanks to landmark policy changes. Organizations that have a major stake in wind energy see it as welcome news. 322009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=33http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=33By Ralph Cohen It does not happen often that major policy changes occur on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time. But in the past year, both Europe and the United States have seen major shifts in the energy landscape. In Europe, it was the 20-20-20 agreement, which sets the most ambitious targets yet for replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. And in the U.S., it was the election of a President who promised a sweeping overhaul of the country’s energy practices and infrastructure. Change, of course, does not come easily, and history is full of policies and edicts that fell short of their intended goals. However, based on comments from a range of major players in the energy business, it appears that those affected most by the new regulations are largely supportive. And since these players will be the primary implementers of the new rules, their support bodes well for the success of the plans. “The E.U. has made a very bold statement basically with this regulatory definition, ” notes Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel Green Power, S.p.A. “It is an impressive target for the united Europe to achieve, but it strikes a nice balance in timing – far away enough to make it possible, and yet enough close to make it challenging. ” In the U.S., Tristan Grimbert, CEO and President of enXco, a major owner and developer of American wind energy projects, gave a fairly positive assessment of the Obama Administration’s Plan. “I think what we have now is an administration that wants to have an energy policy, which has not existed in this country for a very long time. They have a vision of what needs to be done, and they want to do it, and that’s good for the industry in general and renewables in particular. ” Positive Effect The companies surveyed were in general agreement on the effect of the plans. João Paulo Costeira, chief operating officer for Europe of Spain’s EDP Renováveis, expects the 20-20-20 plan to shape the renewables sector in Europe “in a very positive way ” for the next several years. “The E.U. has not only stated its commitments, but also taken actions to ensure they are fulfilled. It establishes clear, strong and quantified goals, and it ensures that every country within Europe will operate under a common framework. ” “An important step for Europe ” is how Annelien d’Arnaud Gerkens, regulatory manager for the Dutch energy company NUON, describes the 20-20-20 plan. “Most importantly, it provides clarity to the energy companies in the sense that there is long term political commitment for investments in renewable energy so that companies can anticipate on the growing renewable market in Europe. ” In this anticipated growth market, wind power will continue to play the dominant role in Europe, according to Christian Kjaer, Executive Director of the European WindEnergy Association. “What we have now is 16 per cent of our electricity coming from renewables, of which 10 per cent is from large hydro, 4 per cent is from wind energy, and the remaining 2 per cent is from other renewable electricity sources. We can’t really expand large hydro much more. So, what the Commission is saying is that it expects wind energy to produce 12 per cent of E.U. electricity demand in 2020. ” As such, the target represents a threefold increase in demand, and it has led Kjaer to call the 20-20-20 plan “the most important piece of legislation for the wind energy sector in the world. ” His enthusiasm for new policy is matched on the other side of the Atlantic by Denise Bode, Executive Director of the American Wind Energy Association. “I’ve been working in the energy business for 30 years, and I have never been in a situation where the President of the United States put so much emphasis on clean energy and renewables as the centerpiece of his economic plan,” says Bode. “I call him the Energy President. ” Grimbert of enXco predicts a boost in the American wind energy market. “Wind is the leading renewable energy in the U.S. and will be the prima2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=34http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=342012. Previously, the PTC extensions were Plan Summaries The European Plan, which was first proposed in March 2007, requires a cut in greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG) to 20 per cent below 1990 levels, mandates that 20 per cent of the E.U.’s overall energy come from renewables, and sets a target of 20 per cent savings in energy use over forecast levels – all by the year 2020. In the U.S., Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan would seek a reduction on GHGs of 80 per cent over current emissions by 2050. It would also ensure that a 10 per cent minimum of electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012 – rising to 25 per cent by 2025 – and it would reduce energy usage by implementing a wide range of measures, such as modernizing government buildings and improving the energy efficiency of more than 2 million homes. Both the European and American plans include the auctioning off of emission allowances for industrial polluters. The European auction would be added to the E.U.’s existing Emission Trading System (ETS) in 2013. The ETS currently distributes the allowances at no cost. The American auction would be part of a cap-and-trade program that has yet to be passed into law, as of this writing. Some Imperfections No plan, of course, is perfect. In Europe, companies expressed concern about the countryspecific targets established by the 20-20-20 agreement. “The system as described within the Directive prevents cross-boarder trading of sustainable energy, ” notes NUON’s d’Arnaud Gerkens. “This means each country will have to use its own resources to achieve its target. We understand that this will strengthen the renewable systems of individual E.U. countries, but we hope that within a few years, [cross-border] trade will be made possible so that each renewable technology is deployed at the most economically viable location. ” Enel’s Starace also saw some problems on the demand side. “We’ve lost some flexibility that we had under the Kyoto Protocol, which allowed us to compensate for emissions up to a certain point by using emission reductions outside the E.U. In my opinion, it will make it quite expensive for our industry to compensate, driving up energy prices a little higher than they would be. ” In America, there is concern that the Obama plan, which has not yet been fully developed, may lack the necessary mandates to make good on its goals. “The analogy I’m using with my staff here, ” says enXco’s Grimbert, “Is that this is a plan that is not curing the patient but certainly saving the life of the patient and taking him out of emergency care. What the stimulus package has done is to substitute some grant money for the bank equity that has disappeared. However, to get the patient out of the only one or two years, constituting big risk and uncertainty for both investors and manufactures alike. ” hospital altogether and back to good health, Obama’s plan has to solve two fundamental problems – long-term project funding and competition with fossil fuels. ” Denise Bode, Executive Director of the AWEA Difficulties over project funding were underscored in late March when the U.S. Department of Energy tentatively awarded its first alternative-energy loan guarantee, under a program that was originally authorized by Congress in 2005. Bureaucratic inertia and lengthy reviews have held up $40 billion in loan guarantees. However, such logjams will likely become a thing of the past, according to Greg Jenner, who previously served in the Treasury Department. The Treasury Department is administering the stimulus package programs. “Treasury is very committed to getting the program up and running quickly, ” says Jenner, now a partner with the business law firm Stoel Rives. “Moreover, a number of legal technicalities appear to have been resolved in early April, so they should no longer be an issue. ” In regard to fossil fuel competition, Grimbert regards a national Renewable Portfolio Standard as an absolute must. “If you play only on an equa2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=35http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=35when the fossil fuel price is high, and when it is low, nobody wants it. It doesn’t make any sense from the policy point of view, and it does not optimize our ability to get the lowest average cost of energy. ” Business Strategy Despite the expected growth in wind markets, none of the companies contacted had made major alterations in their business plans. Most echoed the sentiments of EDP Renováveis, which had built its business strategy on “the belief that the world is entering a trend under which renewable energy will have a growing importance in meeting world energy needs. The European renewable framework confirms this trend. ” What has been a factor in re-thinking their business plans, however, is the current economic crisis. Many respondents, like enXco’s Grimbert, expect a market downturn in the immediate future, followed by better times. “I think that the market is going to drop in 09 compared to 08, ” says Grimbert. “The stimulus package is going to limit that drop and prepare for the recovery in 2010 and 2011. ” Despite the problems posed by the economic downturn, all of the companies surveyed felt strongly that the current crisis should not affect implementation of the energy plans. “In moments of economical difficulties, governments may have the temptation to delay efforts, ” says EDP Renováveis’s Costeira. “It is important not to engage in this kind of reasoning as it may impact a country’s situation in the long term. ” For his part, EWEA’s Kjaer sees a lesson in the financial crisis that should favor renewables. “The financial crisis started because Public Acceptance Ultimately, however, the general feeling among respondents was that the fate of the E.U. and American plans would depend on popular attitudes. “The main obstacle [to achieving the 20-20-20 targets] is public acceptance of the changing energy landscape, ” states NUON’s d’Arnaud Gerkens. “As long as there is a lack of public acceptance, investments in technologies such as onshore wind and carbon capture and storage will be slowed down. Such obsta cles can be overcome if the government and energy sector work together to improve public acceptance. ” Christian Kjaer, Executive Director of the EWEA Certainly, the plans represent a working together by governments and the energy sector. And without a doubt, they represent a new phase among policy makers. But has there also been a corresponding shift among energy consumers that will provide critical support for the plans? “I think the plan does reflect a shift in popular attitudes, ” says Enel’s Starace. “Europeans have become more and more aware that their energy supply is widely dependent on others. This is a recurring issue every single year we have a gas crisis because Ukraine and Russia don’t agree on prices. On top of that, there is a growing environmental concern about global warming. So, these two points make it a very big issue to become independent from fossil sources. And renewable energy becomes a very strong alternative. ” AWEA’s Bode believes that Americans have experienced a similar transformation. “I think the high prices that occurred with crude oil got people’s attention. And so did the hurricanes Rita and Katrina that caused such volatility in energy prices. Those are times that are teaching moments, and you capture the attention of the public. Also, I think we have not gotten complacent yet like we’ve done every other time prices have gone up and come back down. It’s the greatest opportunity I’ve seen in my lifetime to reach out to the American people, and for policymakers to act on it, to really move us fundamentally in a different direction. ” Taking a global view, EDP’s Costeira notes, “if Europe and America unite on this subject, I believe almost everyone will follow. This change will be decisive and is the best news we have had in recent times. And the world needs good news. ” people invested in very high-risk investments that collapsed. And that’s more or less what we’ve been doing in2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=36http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=36362009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=37http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=37around the World: Training for the Generation of Green-Collar Workers By Katharine Gammon At first, Elizabeth Kokos was looking for a new place to work. After working an office job in a high school in Oregon and raising kids, she looked around her community for new opportunities. “Basically my kids had graduated high school, and I needed a new job, ” she says. “I saw the wind energy program, and I started trying to get my kids involved. ” Though her son wasn’t interested in the program, Kokos herself signed up at Columbia Gorge Community College – and her daughter also joined in. Kokos’ experience isn’t unique. The American Wind Energy Association works with nearly a hundred community college partners who train students to work in all parts of the wind energy sector. For engineers and technicians, training usually comes from an intense one or two-year program. Some new students like Kokos, find the new tasks rough on the body. “We were learning about the turbines, about how we’d climb up 300 feet. That was pretty intimidating, ” says Kokos, 44. She was able to land an internship at a wind farm while she completed her studies – using what she Seminar for Safety To the north, wind energy programs are also learned in class on the job, and vice versa. It’s a good time to be in renewable energy education. Recently, a report from the independent research group Clean Edge predicts that the solar and wind power industries will create 2.65 million jobs worldwide over the next decade, up from about 600,000 today. And the people filling those jobs will need training – from places like Columbia Gorge Community College, where Kokos got her certificate. The college started working in wind energy education just two years ago. “I was driving along in spring and saw turbine components being trucked east, ” says Susan Wolff, the school’s Chief Academic Officer. She adds that her desire in the program was to provide local people with work, as well as to help the various wind energy companies working in the area. So far, the program has graduated several classes of students, with most going on to earn $46-$60,000 per year starting out. spinning their turbines and gaining speed. In southern Alberta, Canada, Lethbridge College has a six-month wind energy training course that partners with the BZEE, the European training standard. Lethbridge’s program has been running for four years, and Greg Peterson, the program administrator, has some ideas why there is no problem in filling student slots, even six months ahead of time: “We’re in a good wind location, and we have a number of commercial wind farms in the region. ” Peterson says that safety is the first lesson in training new students to maintain wind turbines. Fatalities, though rare, are gruesome: workers have been electrocuted, ground to a pulp by rotating machinery, or plunged to their deaths dozens of stories down. Teaching students to respect the technology and the power is key, according to Peterson. “The students have to know what dangers are and how to deal with that, ” he says. “We have a training tower that students get regular power climbs, so they can work safely at heights. ” Working safely around electricity is also a focus of the program. 372009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=38http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=38Boosting Energy, Boosting Local Spirits Susan Wolff agrees that safety is one of the biggest parts of the training program, but thinks that the benefits are greater than just jobs created or energy produced. “For the college, educating students in wind energy means the prosperity for the community, the local economy, and the workforce, ” she says, adding that traditionally the area has been hard-hit by downturns in the timber and aluminum smelting industries, traditional employers. “We don’t have large manufacturing here, so to bring sustainable development here is amazing. ” In the U.S., wind farms tend to be located in blustery rural spots with land to spare, so small local community colleges are the best-equipped to train people for nearby jobs. In Africa, renewable energy institutes are few and far between – but the wind is still blowing into turbines, and trained technicians are needed. One of the groups training local people in renewable energy technologies is the U.S. and German-led International Energy Academy, located in Nigeria. According to the school’s director, Alex Olorunfemi, about 120 students have received certification in Renewable Energy since April 2008, and most of them go on to be self-employed in the renewable energy sector. “The future is bright for wind energy and wind energy education in Africa, ” adds Olorunfemi. “Africa’s policy makers have realized that to solve Africa’s power crisis, wind power would have to be included in energy portfolio. ” And in order to get wind power out to the people, local people need to be qualified and trained to take on renewable energy technologies. While the U.S. generally trains the next generation of green jobs candidates in small schools near wind farms, European technical schools are full of programs at the Master’s level. At the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) Centre for Renewable Energy in Trondheim, Norway, students from a wide variety of disciplines take courses in wind energy technology. About two hundred students each year specialize in wind energy technology, says Geir Moe, a professor in the program. “The world is facing at least two crises: global warming and energy shortage, and Norway can contribute toward getting energy from 382009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=39http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=39Vestas Global University Programme The Global University Programme provides scholarship to specific Master, Ph.D. students and professors conducting academic projects on wind energy related fields. The programme was initiated in 2008 with the aim to strengthen Vestas interaction with academic research institutions globally and to benefit from the new knowledge generated from academic collaborations. Vestas started collaboration with the Master of Wind Energy at Technical University of Denmark with regards to promote this opportunity to international students. At present, the programme also supports a number of master thesis and Ph.D. projects at universities worldwide in offshore wind, ” says Moe, adding that students from NTNU’s program usually find work in energy companies, as consultants, or in the public sector after they graduate. The program also works with about 20 Ph.D. students, many of whom are working on the focus of the Centre for Renewable Energy’s research: offshore wind technology. Researchers are looking into new ways to build shallow water wind farms and large-scale floating turbines, contributing to the European Union’s target of sourcing 20 per cent of its energy use from renewable sources by 2020. The future seems bright for schools that are accepting the challenge of training the next generation of green workers. As Columbia Gorge Community College’s Susan Wolff says, “We might run out of land eventually for the wind farms, but there will always be a need for maintenance – even more as they age. ” As turbines tend to last about 30 years and renewable energy is only set to get bigger, it looks like the optimism is warranted. For Elizabeth Kokos, starting a new path in her 40s turned out to give her much more than just a job. “There is no typical person going into this, ” she says. “We have people from high school on up to their 50s learning this trade. What’s the best part of my job? Every day is different. There’s nothing mundane about it. ” U.S.A., Central Europe, India and very soon in Northern Europe, Singapore and U.K. 392009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=40http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=40Win-win collaboration 402009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=41http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=41Whether it is with outside industries, universities or research bodies, R&D collaboration proves that two heads are better than one. By Jack Jackson When Boeing built airplanes in the past, it needed an enormous, heavy system of metal frames to accurately place the parts in their exact locations. This was time-consuming, cumbersome and costly. But then the global aerospace company discovered a technology that could make its airplane assembly easier. This laser-guidance technology has revolutionised Boeing’s production process, thanks to a research collaboration with the construction industry. “It’s always exciting to have companies from such different industry sectors working together, ” says Jan Närlinge, President of Boeing Northern Europe. “In international collaborations we are reaching out all over the world and looking for partners that can support our core business while giving synergies to both parties. ” Open innovation Every industry does it - from aerospace and automobiles to software, shipping and logistics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, and on and on. They cooperate outside of their branch to discover new and old technologies or processes that will benefit each other for win-win situations. “Of course, it’s possible to get along without collaboration, ” says Ian Chatting, Vice President, Aero-Mechanical Systems at Vestas. “But as your business grows and you move into new areas, it becomes difficult to hold all that specialist knowledge in-house. By collaborating with partners, you get access to basic specialist knowledge, plus you often find situations where two or three heads are better than one alone. ” Just look at Vestas’s history, he says. “Some major electrical and mechanical components were developed almost entirely by our partners. We’ve done a lot of work with material suppliers, ” he says. “The current coating for our turbine blades was developed specially in a partnership with a supplier of anti-graffiti paint. ” Chatting’s department is spread out around the world - Asia, Europe, North America - and works with what he calls a culture of open innovation. “For every person in my department, we have three people externally - at universities, research institutions, government agencies, our suppliers. They’re all working toward making wind energy ever more affordable, ” says Chatting. “That’s our long-term research mission. ” Some projects are very specific, such as monitoring the aerodynamic performance of a new feature on a wind turbine blade. Others are much broader, basic longer-term research. ns 412009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=42http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=42Left: Jan Kristiansen, Senior Vice President, Global Research in Vestas. Right: Jä n Narlinge. President Boeing Northern Europe. “You are sharing the results, so you have to believe it will be beneficial for you and you will gain at least as much as you put in by being part of the collaboration, ” Chatting says. Exploring new avenues In March Vestas announced its intent to engage in long-term technology development projects with Boeing. “There is a strong correlation between new technologies needed in the aerospace industry and the wind energy business, and by pooling our R&D efforts on specific projects, both Boeing and Vestas will benefit, as well as the environment that we live in, ” says Boeing’s Jan Närlinge. “Since we first met with Vestas there has been an inflow of ideas where we see potential cooperation with each other. Recycling of composite materials, for instance. That’s the type of area where we’ll start working together to find out how to do this better and more efficiently. ” Other areas of research will include aerodynamics, materials science and structural health monitoring. “There’s not an exact template in how to do this, ” Närlinge adds. “That’s where the human being comes in. You’re talking with each other, but also constantly teaching each other how to do things better, comparing best practices, benchmarking. ” The academic connection Industries and universities have long found great benefits of working together on research. Companies gain benefits of cost-effective advances in technology - plus possible future talent - while the schools and students gain funding, educational credit and hands-on skills and experience. According to statistics from the U.S. National Science Foundation, more than 60 per cent of research activity at academic institutions in the U.S. is sponsored by industries. As one example, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has formed the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC) with more than 65 companies. “We’ve had a reputation for many years of being one of the centres of excellence for electrical machines and power electronics, ” says Dr. Thomas Jahns, WEMPEC Co-Director and Professor at UW-Madison. 422009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=43http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=43“Our members are manufacturers of everything ranging from aircraft engines to washing machines, ” he says. “We work with them on technology at the pre-competitive level that can be applied in a wide range of potential applications. Obviously, with 65 companies, we cannot focus on proprietary information. ” Thomas Jahns says such collaborations might look at new types of unorthodox machine designs or materials or features technology that is five to ten or more years away from commercial production. Sometimes, individual WEMPEC members take results from a study start up a project with UW aimed at a more specific application of the technology. “We do not develop production prototypes at our university, ” stresses Thomas Jahns. “We develop the stage before that - concept demonstration - which might have a lot of the key characteristics of the final application but not all the manufacturing technology to make it economical in production. We’re a state institution and must draw the line where we would be in direct competition with the business community. But we want to use the opportunity to develop not only the technology but the next generation of scientists or engineers to work in these areas. ” New Vestas department Vestas is on the path to become one of the newest members of WEMPEC. It will be one of many satellite activities of the new Vestas research centre in Houston, Texas, set to open later this year. Vestas has a number of other strong research collaborations with universities. “Currently we are focused on composites research with a top university in the U.K. and are finalising a long-term collaboration plan, ” says Simon Stacey of Vestas’s new Innovation Network department. “We have also engaged in a number of aero-mechanical projects at the universities in Europe, Asia and the United States - and in some cases we sponsor a significant research programme, which can include a Vestas professorship and Vestas staff on site at the university. China is of particular interest at the moment and we are ramping up R&D activities in a number of locations. ” In January Vestas rolled out the Innovation Network to coordinate all of Vestas’s collaborations. It will build up a central source for the company’s internal knowledge base, help R&D departments to search for strategic partners, and set joint research collaborations in motion. Vestas currently collaborates with the following univeristies and institutions: · Technical University of Denmark · Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory (U.S.) · Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) · Riso National Laboratory (Denmark) · National University of Singapore · Tsinghua University (China) · CRC-ASC (Australia) · Texas A&M University (U.S.) · University of Bristol (U.K.) · IIT Chennai (India) · University of Southampton (U.K.) · University of Wisconsin (U.S.) 432009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=44http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=44innovation in Vestas 442009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=45http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=45new crane increases turbine availability By Hanne Poder Sørensen How do you avoid having to use expensive cranes that are hard to get when you need them, and time-consuming and difficult to handle once you have them? Vestas introduces its new mobile crane. A crane for V112 A new version of the VTC will be made for the V112 turbine, which has been specially designed to use the crane for both installation and replacing components. Vestas has developed its Vestas Tower Crane™ (VTC) to meet the demands for replacing main components in 3,0 MW turbines. Contrary to most regular cranes that operate next to a wind turbine, the VTC is clamped directly to the tower. The crane is the only one on the market that can operate on tapered towers — where the diameter of the tower narrows from bottom to top — and that is flexible enough to lift all types of main components for replacement, including hubs, gearboxes, generators and blades. The crane increases turbine availability in a number of ways. Because the VTC is attached to the turbine, it moves in the same rhythm as the tower in strong winds, meaning it can operate longer than a regular crane in such conditions. “In fact, using the VTC we can replace a gearbox in wind speeds of up to at least 17 metres per second [m/s], and it can be left on the tower in wind speeds of up to 28 m/s, ” says Jesper Stærke Rosengren, one of the engineers behind the crane’s invention. “A regular crane, on the contrary, needs to be taken down in wind speeds of more than 1012 m/s and put back up when the weather conditions are better. ” In addition, because the VTC is an inhouse Vestas crane, turbine owners won’t have to wait for a regular crane to be ready. The VTC can be mounted and ready to use three times faster than a regular crane. In fact, the VTC can be transported to site in just two truckloads, where regular cranes need between 5 and 12 truckloads. The crane will be used for onshore as well as offshore turbines. Vestas is also looking into the necessary changes to be made so the VTC can be used with other wind turbine models. The crane in itself weighs around 50 tonnes. It can lift an additional 30 tonnes. The crane attached to the tower of the turbine in Nakskov, Denmark, lifting out the gearbox. 452009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=46http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=46to the converters By Eric Johnson Meet GridStreamer: a new power system, from a new group within Vestas, that promises serious cost savings. As power sources go, wind can be rather unruly. It puffs, it blows, it roars; it tumbles about like wisps of smoke scattered, well, to the winds. Of course this variation could never be tolerated by the electrical grid. Incoming electricity must be uniform, of a constant frequency, usually 50 or 60 Hertz. So to link the wild wind to the tame grid, generators connect through something called a frequency converter. These have been around for years, but now Vestas has moved the standard up to the next level. A serious step it is, promising to drive down generating costs 8.5 per cent per kWh produced, says Kenneth Krabbe, Reaching Two years and counting The novel product, pioneered by Vestas’s new department of Global Research, stems from development work dating back nearly two years. Pilot projects are running at three sites in Europe – including one near headquarters in Århus – that will continue for some time. GridStreamer is being trialed, first by itself, then with an integrated system, then with a turbine, then with all the controller software…in ever-growing configurations and levels of complexity. “We are testing and testing and testing to secure the required quality, ” comments Krabbe. “The quality of the final product just has to be right. ” To get there will take another year; initial commercial installations are planned for 2010. What makes the GridStreamer so much better than conventional converters? One, the generator has permanent magnets that cut Modular full scale converter Vice President for Electrical Drives & Control. Dubbed GridStreamer, the system comprises three main components: a permanent magnet generator, a modular converter and a transformer for stepping up voltage to that of the electrical grid. All these contribute to cost savings, mainly by boosting efficiency and by eliminating the need for many different gearboxes used in conventional systems. “With traditional systems, for each generator we need to keep a variety of gearboxes on hand, ” Krabbe says. “With GridPower, we need only one gearbox and generator variant in stock. ” weight and cost while hiking efficiency. Second, it is modular. If one module fails, the rest Permanent-magnet Gearbox generator Transformer can still operate while the defect is repaired or replaced. Moreover, modular design and production allows more re-use of components from one turbine type to the next. Finally, an advanced control system is used for managing and monitoring the system and allows to fulfil grid requirements. 462009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=47http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=47new turbine design reduces cost of energy By Hanne Poder Sørensen The V112 has been designed to use as much standardised equipment as possible in the areas of transport, installation and service. That, in turn, don’t jeopardize quality while it reduce costs. That is the contribution of the Special Tools department in Vestas Technology R&D to reducing the cost of the V112. By giving our input to the design of the V112 we have optimised it so solutions in connection with transporting, installing and servicing the turbine have been incorporated into the design, says Thomas Poulsen, Project Manager, Special Tools. One of the results of the input from Special Tools is that it is possible to raise the roof of the nacelle once the turbine is on the site. That gives the service technicians sufficient space in the nacelle to work comfortably, which will make it easier to reach targets in Mean Time Between Inspections (MTBI) and turbine availability. At the same time, it makes it possible to use a standard flatbed trailer for transportation, explains Jørn Rahbek Christiansen, Project Manager, Special Tools and responsible for transport solutions for the V112 components. “That is much cheaper than if we had to design a special trailer. Normally, when we can’t use standard equipment, we have to develop special transportation equipment in cooperation with the supplier. Needless to say, it is a very expensive solution. ” Other main components such as the hub, drive train and tower have also been designed to comply with dimension rules that make it possible to use standard transportation equipment. Using the standard transportation equipment also makes it possible to transport the turbine components in all relevant areas in the world because they already comply with rules for transportation of heavy components. Special Tools has also contributed to lowering the costs by improving the way the turbine components are loaded when they need to be transported. They have developed a solution called jacking where four hydraulic cylinders can be attached to the main components of the V112 and lift and unload the components on a flatbed trailer without using a crane. “A crane is a big part of the total costs of transportation so we see this as something that can really reduce the cost of energy, ” says Jørn Rahbek Christiansen. “Together, we have a massive pool of knowledge that needs to go into the development of our new products towards reducing cost of energy. With the V112 we have taken an important step, ” says Thomas Poulsen. 472009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=48http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=48Wind will never stop By Manel Romeu Despite the devastating effects for many industries of the credit crunch, wind power grew record numbers during 2008 and has a promising short to long term future prospectives. Wind power market in 2008 Last year started with a bright outlook for the wind industry. During the first half of 2008, the U.S. and Chinese markets grew at an overwhelming rate and helped to push the initial 92 GW at the beginning of the year to 100 GW by spring. The financial crisis decelerated the rapid development of the wind industry and by autumn, when the banks started to burn up in a chain reaction like matches in a matchbox, it became very difficult to finance any wind project. The market dried out progressively and orders for wind projects fell. Despite the bad performance at the end of the year, the accumulated wind power capacity climbed up to 122 GW. This represented a remarkable increase of 30 per cent of the Leading markets in 2008 The U.S. and China accounted for 51.8 per cent of the installations in 2008 and the eight leading market covered 80 per cent of the global sales. The third leading country was India, which together with other developing countries like China and Mexico took advantage of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanisms to support the financing of their wind projects. Wind energy seen as a low-risk investment Despite the financial crisis, wind power is still regarded as a low-risk investment in mid to long term. The building blocks of wind projects are societal and economic benefits as well as the legislative support: · Climate change · Kyoto Protocol · Job creation · Energy independence accumulated installed capacity compared to 2007. Installations in 2008 were 42 per cent larger than in 2007, and the installations in 2008 represented turnover of app. €40 billion in the industry. Vestas maintained its leading position in the wind power induistry with a 19.8 per cent of market share. Offshore wind energy By the end of 2008, 1,473 MW of wind turbines were in operation offshore, more than 99 per cent of it in Europe, representing 1,2 per cent of the total installed wind turbine capacity. 347 MW were added offshore in 2008, equalling a growth rate of 30 per cent. Graph 1: World Market Growth Rates (%). Data from BTM World Market Update 2008, March 2009. 48 Graph 2: New Installed Capacity 1998-2008 (MW). Data from BTM World Market Update 2008, March 2009.2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=49http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=49In general, the renewable energy sector is still one of the preferred assets for investors and is maintaining its priority status. Wind energy as job generator Wind energy creates many more jobs than centralized, non-renewable energy sources. Within three years, the wind sector almost doubled the number of jobs from 235,000 in 2005 to 440,000 in 2008 according to the World Wind Energy Association. Future prospects for the wind industry Strong global drivers will continue to ensure steady growth in the wind power industry for the years to come. Despite the difficulties to forecast any development in a short term due to the current crisis, mid to long term expectations remain very encouraging for investors. The development of the industry will slow down during 2009 with a modest growth of 8.6 per cent in respect of 2008. However, the overall growth rate from 2008 to 2013 will be 15.7 per cent p.a. and by the end of this period the total cumulative installation will have reached 343,153 MW worldwide. The expected installation of offshore wind in 2012 will make up some 7.5 per cent of total world demand. A further prediction for the period 2014 to 2018 shapes a more dynamic growth in the wind power industry with 17.2 per cent p.a. This improvement is uncertain but justified for the global policies supporting renewables as well as the strong need for sustainable and independent energy supply. The growing support of the governments for sustainable energy and the need for clean energy shapes a forecast of wind power contributing at least with 12 per cent of the global electricity consumption by 2020. According to World Wind Energy Association, by 2020 wind power will account with 1,500,000 MW installed worldwide. Data and forecasts in this article from the BTM World Market. Update 2008, March 2009. Graph 3: World Wind Energy (MW). Data from BTM World Market Update 2008, March 2009. Graph 4: Total Installed Capacity (MW). Data from BTM World Market Update 2008, March 2009. 492009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=50http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=50Wind installed Capacity 2006-2008 Accu. MW 2006 Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czech Rep. Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland (Rep.) Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Rumania Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey UK Rest of Europe: Other East European and Baltic countries. Total Europe 748 2,118 0 0 12 1,557 328 170 1,716 0 11,614 571 11 76 1,967 36 48,627 966 222 0 0 3,101 0 89 1,585 20,652 862 Accu. MW 2007 983 297 18 114 3,088 55 113 2,471 22,277 987 65 807 2,721 29 57 12 1,745 355 313 2,150 15 14,714 789 11 225 2,394 54 56,824 Accu. MW 2008 997 385 66 138 3,159 67 113 3,671 23,933 1,102 162 1,015 3,731 29 71 21 2,222 385 472 2,829 76 16,453 1,024 13 512 3,263 63 65,971 502009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=51http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=51Accu. MW 2006 Argentina Brazil Canada Costa Rica Mexico USA Other Americas Total Americas P.R. China India Taiwan Rest of Asia: Indonesia, N. Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. Total South & East Asia Australia Japan New Zealand Pacific Islands South Korea Total OECD-Pacific Egypt Morocco Tunisia Rest of Africa: Algeria, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Libya, South Africa, etc. Total Africa Middle East: Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, etc. (excl. Egypt) Transition Economies: incl. Russia, White Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, etc. Total other continents and areas: 31 231 1,459 79 86 11,635 56 13,557 2,588 1,84 118 28 8,963 796 1,457 170 11 194 2,628 231 122 28 6 386 101 23 124 Accu. MW 2007 31 392 1,845 79 86 16,879 79 19,391 5,875 7,845 224 28 13,973 972 1,681 321 11 235 3,220 310 124 28 6 469 101 26.7 127.4 Accu. MW 2008 33 687 2,371 104 332 25,237 153 28,918 12,121 9,655 369 28 22,174 1,587 2,033 325 16 311 4,272 384 206 62 44 696 101 26.7 127.4 512009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=52http://nozebra.ipapercms.dk/Vestas/VestasWind/UK/No162009/?Page=52Contacts Vestas Northern Europe +46 40 376 700 Sales and service in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia, Poland and the Baltic area. Vestas Central Europe +49 4841 9710 Sales and service in Germany, Austria, Benelux, Russia and Eastern Europe. Vestas Mediterranean +34 932 41 98 00 Sales and service in the countries of the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North and West Africa. Vestas Asia Pacific +65 6303 6500 Sales and service in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India and the rest of Asia. Vestas China +86 5923 2000 Sales and service in China. Vestas Americas +1 503 327 2000 Sales and service in North America. Vestas Offshore +45 97 30 00 00 Sales and service, offshore. Editors: Peter Wenzel Kruse (Editor in Chief) and Manel Romeu Bellés. tExt: Cath Mersh, Jack Jackson, Ralph Cohen, Palagna Solano, Eric Johnson, Glen Blowin, Katherine Gammon, Hanne Poder Sørensen and Manel Romeu Bellés. UK Wind W i n d , o i l a n d g a s For more information about Vestas sales and service units, go to www.vestas.com and click on Contact. Vestas Wind Systems A/S Alsvej 21 · DK–8940 Randers · Denmark Tel. +45 97 30 00 00 · Fax +45 97 30 00 01 vestas@vestas.com · www.vestas.com2009-05-05T08:42:22+02:00